“Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?” So ends Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Trombonist Samuel Blaser is no longer the invisible man of jazz. This Swiss bandleader is among various low brass players

 The pain arose like an assassin at 2 a.m. on Dec. 14, slashing into Gary Christensen’s gut. Making matters worse, he felt desperately alone, in a friend’s cottage in a dark, desolate area outside of tiny Hillsboro, nearly a whole

 Jazz may not be the music that made Milwaukee famous, but the local scene has been looking vibrant lately. Credit that development to the young generations of musicians who have inherited the scene and made it their own. Enough of the city’s veteran players remain—some

This CD/DVD set and Blu-ray disc live concert is a moving testament to the great American life of Johnny Cash. Cash embodied integrity, suffering, perseverance, redemption, hard-won truth and generosity of spirit, especially for the downtrodden... 

 “Coal kills.” Or can it be “clean”? On Calling Me Home, Kathy Mattea, daughter of a miner family, sifts through the black stuff’s tragic human and environmental remains with more symbol-laden artistry than on her brilliant but

The late Gil Evans was the godfather of modern jazz arrangements, the bridge from Debussy and Ellington to Maria Schneider and Darcy James Argue. His brooding tapestries engulfed the...

The original Milwaukee Jazz Gallery transmitted a far-reaching beacon, a creative-freedom vibe even the Statue of Liberty might've caught and tapped her toe to. America's art of...